Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris, Paris

It is easy to fall in love with the idea of a place. Going on vacation to a remote island and moving there because life seems so much easier is a situation many find themselves daydreaming about. In movies, directors take the audience on a journey of a city. But the most realistic depiction of the city isn’t always the one that’s shown. In Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, Paris, France, is romanticized by the main character, Gil Pender, who fails to look at Paris from a realistic point of view, because he is unsatisfied in his life. Yearning for another era or place is pointless because every city has troubles, no matter how beautiful it may appear.
The movie opens with glimpses into the architecture and scenery of Paris. The instrumental that plays as the audience watches creates a very romantic feeling of the city. One can clearly get the feeling that Paris is a beautiful city that the film loves, and the audience should love too. Gil exclaims, “There’s no city like this in the world!” which shows his extreme infatuation with the city. However, Gil’s fiancé, Inez, says that Gil is in …show more content…
Movies such as this one – romantic comedies – have a goal of making the audience come out happy. Although Paris is beautiful and thriving, that does not mean that the lives of all Parisians are easy. Life is very tough for the immigrants and their children in Paris, according to the article from New York Times, “In the Paris slums, no jobs, no sun,” which talks about the difficulties plaguing these first-generation French. Djamila, a woman interviewed for the article, talked about how hard it was for her sons to make something out of themselves. "There is no exit, no factories, [and] no jobs for them. They see too much injustice, too, too, too much. Society no longer offers them anything, no values, no morality, no place." (Sciolino). This is the part of Paris left out of